Sport: The Tar Baby

The sad-faced, spindly little Negro boy was broke, cold and hungry that
winter day in Boston in 1902. He did not even know how old he was (he
guessed maybe 16), but he knew well enough why he and his dog had run
away from their Weymouth, Nova Scotia home. "My pa was always lickin'
me," explained young Sam

Langford. Lost in some giant's castoff overcoat, he looked so woebegone
that a fight manager named Joe Woodman gave him a job sweeping up at
the old Lenox Athletic Club.